Why you should spend money to get your car detailed

Clean it
up!
Screenshot via
YouTube/Movieclips

• Detailing is the process of deep-cleaning a
  vehicle.
• It’s more expensive than a regular car wash, at around $100, but
  i
  t’s typically done by pros
• Once a year should do the trick.

Detailing.

It sounds so, you know, involved. Can’t you just wash your car in
the driveway as have countless generations before, or simply run
it through a car wash once a month?

Sure, that would all be fine. You should wash your car about
every month and wax it a few times per year, so keep the exterior
finish in good shape.

But the daily grind still takes its toll — more so if you have
pets, children, or use your vehicle for
gardening/home-improvement duty or lead an active outdoorsy
lifestyle. You don’t even what to know what three kids did to my
Honda Odyssey minivan on a regular basis.

My argument is that it’s worth it, once a year, to spend $100 to
have your car detailed, which just means that in addition to a
through exterior wash-and-wax, a professional detailer or
full-service car wash will get down and dirty with the interior,
extracting as much filth as possible. You’ll be shocked at how,
well, new your old car looks. And in some cases, a mobile
detailer will come to you, so you don’t have to leave home!

I’ve chosen the $100 figure because that’s a decent ballpark for
proper detailing. You can spend extra for ever-more surgical
obsessiveness, involving compressed air, Q-Tips, X-Acto knives,
whatever it takes.

You also don’t have to spend that much for less thorough
quasi-detailing. This option will consume far less time. I
recently paid about $30 to have my Toyota Prius washed, waxed,
and more heavily cleaned inside than usual. The entire process
ate up about half an hour on a weekend. I ended up with a quite
tidy hybrid.

Ultimately, there are three main reasons to undertake this yearly
or bi-annual ritual (if you opt for the cheaper treatment, which
could also be a quarterly thing).

1. Your vehicle isn’t gross and is, therefore, a more pleasant
place to spend time.

You don’t have to be a neat-freak to be depressed if your car
slips over the edge into Superfund site. Months of spilled
coffee, scattered Doritos, and the simple churn of stuff will do
it.

2. It maintains the resale value.

A sharp interior helps you get top-dollar for a trade-in or
private sale, no doubt about it. And in an era when everybody
shops based on internet photos, the cleaner the better.

3. You support your friendly neighborhood car wash.

I can get a basic wash in my neighborhood for less than $10. And
I do. But every so often, it’s a good idea to accept the upsells
so that your local business can make more money and, you know,
stay in business.